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even if most products get forgotten by the media after the review period is done there are a few that stand out Gadget that people still ask about months later something we get to hold on to as daily drivers and that we get to see age over time the pixel 8 Pro is one of them Google's most ambitious Flagship is about to get a refresh in a few days so it does beg to wonder if it's worth to stick around for another year or get ready for pre-orders I'm with pocket now and it's time for Google pixel Pro after the buzz I think the premise of the pixel 8 Pro is a pretty bold statement at a time when AI is pushing hard for eyeballs this phone was known as the best of Google even more Pro over the years
pixels have always been ahead of the curve in their use of artificial intelligence but with different names the first pixel was a master class and computational photography so many years ago but the fact that this is now a standard across all smartphones is proof that uh might explain why this is the pixel I've used least I think part of it had to do with the fact that Google's Hardware choices have never been the most efficient in my opinion yes visually they are stunning I can't stress enough how much I love this baked color particularly with its matte glass and shiny Chrome likee accents Google's decision to go flat on the display also gave it a tad the minimalistic
trends that others are following my problem with this design was mostly a contradiction as while this phone is lighter than the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Galaxy s24 Ultra it doesn't feel that way not sure if it's the weight distribution given the camera visor or what but it wasn't my favorite speaking of which that was my second gripe with it I do praise Google's more uniform design particularly for table use but boy is this metal sharp the pH that I thought would not need a case is the one that spent the entire year with it's mainly the reason why it ate so well for me I never used it bare and by the way these uh Google cases are worth the money they look almost new a full year
later now one thing I can finally praise Google for is a great display Google has spent years getting this so wrong I'm not even sure what they mean by ACTA honestly don't even remember details of uh it being explained in briefings but boy it's good Google finally got the brightness right which was especially handy when taking photos the colors were Flagship territory and just responsiveness of the panel felt like butter thanks to its Speedy refresh rate even the experience with the speakers was my favorite on a pixel as well as an irony give it its Fitbit Origins some of us did see a light at the end of the tunnel now to be honest another reason I barely use this phone is because companies have jumped into this terrible
trend of selling unfinish products I can't publish a review of a phone that promises so many potential AI features that won't be available until like 2 months later by that time I already have to move to another phone pretty much killing whatever made it stand the parts and also at a time when this phone is no longer as popular and sure it's a benefit to be first at Android updates and I can tell you that the pixel launcher continues to be as smooth as ever I'm not a fan of the grid because it's not optimized to maximize space for more widgets nor am I fan of the at a glance widget either which you can't remove I can't even say that I'm a fan of the UI elements adapting to the theme
I care really more about the functionality in that sense yes I do love that Circle to search made it to this phone pretty close after Samsung launched it on the s24 the company's magic editor and even the audio Magic Eraser are also Beyond awesome I just wish I could sit here and tell you that its unique approach to Gemini is fantastic but it turns out that it works pretty much just like on any other Android phone crazy how Google made a big deal about this pixel 8 Pro being unique and how it would handle all this only for competition to force their handed going broader also if we're honest Gemini still needs a lot of work even the advanced version of it still gets a lot of things wrong then there
was the case of the spec sheet Mass competitors have not just caught up but surpass Google's approach to tensor I can't say the G3 was much to celebrate on it was behind on most benchmarks which I don't really care about up until I tested this phone at gaming and quickly gave up it's clear this chip is good for most tasks but not all even after software fixes and even if Google did bestow this phone with enough RAM 128 gigs of storage in 2023 was already dated if your biggest selling point for this phone is how good it is in photos and video its limitations and how you could store that data were just really not my cup of tea but more on that soon during the course of the sporadic weeks
I use this phone one of the things that I struggle with is how much better it's Snapdragon competitors are at Essentials like battery life yes I could get through a day with this phone but it's crazy how you can leave a Galaxy overnight without charging it and it'll barely lose like 5% on its power pack and by contrast this pixel still acts like if you're using it overnight phone calls did get much better than its predecessor along with how well it clanked the data previous pixels always got that wrong but uh this was yet another step in the right direction at least when it came to connectivity now as with every pixel photography is always at the core and I call this
Google's boldest attempt at it seriously the visor on this phone protrudes so much because the amount of Hardware baked in here is just crazy once you look at the spec sheet sure there are phones with bigger sensors and other crazy technology but just keep in mind that none of them C cost $9.99 few phones if any at this price give you so much in both hardware and software now here's the thing if what you're looking for is a phone with character get a pixel the way Google plays with contrast to make these photos seem like if they came from a bigger camera it's just legendary the play with pushing highlights and dropping Shadows during the day regardless of if you're using
the ultrawide primary or telephoto to get some very powerful results is still fantastic also super R Zoom is just crazy to be able to fully get a usable 30X photo where I can read the letters of the air conditioner across the street as stuff of ultra phones you have to pay more money for heck even the macro mode does a great job at blurring out the background given how good the quality of the sensor is but then at night I got to admit I love how Google pushes both highlights and shadows to make these photos almost seem like if they were Ed it in Lightroom to make them look more Majestic I love that Google also finally addressed the weird lens flares from its predecessor devices and that I can trust
this scammer regardless of whatever focal length I'm using and that it's much faster now the main reason I consider this a pro unlike most is uh because if we were to try to get long exposure photos or action pans you need to know your stuff on manual controls and this phone is just simply offering you a mode that does it for you and then I also love the fact that you also get a regular photo in case you don't like how the like streaks came out and astrophotography is then again also simply a mode doesn't get more Pro than that as yes you get all the Simplicity of a smartphone but with the pro functionality I also think Google did a great job at bringing back wider selfies and portrait shots and doing a great job
at toning down the contrast and skin tones that made me look older than I am on previous pixels Google is then the only Android manufacturer I'll recommend for video it's still not at iPhone level but darn close and that's even when I push this camera while walking with a ton of trees around to see if it falls apart in detail and just doesn't also notice how great the stabilization is on most focal links it's even good enough when lights get dim though with some warping getting in the way and this is while not even bothering to try out that better night video option you have to use server processing 4 I'd say selfie video is also pretty close but this is so long as you have enough light and
sure sometimes stabilization can get challenged I also wish I had a better crop given how we already have wider Optics here sadly once you dim the lights this phone becomes unusable in this mode so yeah stick to good light and you should be fine to conclude I'm actually glad I Revisited this pixel 8 Pro right before its update it helped me remember what I love about pixels and what I don't I love that out of all pro phones this is one of the proud few that actually earns the title at least in photography I love that Google sticks to making a unique phone that uh looks like nothing else out there and stays true to the science fiction nature that always defined Android's aesthetic I love the seven
years of software updates in addition to a user interface that mostly is designed to Delight users I don't like trying to convince people to consider this phone based on potential if your software feature is not ready don't make it a selling point I don't like the tensor so far behind on Essentials which we can no longer defend a Snapdragon is just owning it there's so much good and cool in this phone and yet tensor holds it back from True Flagship status bottom line and especially after seeing everything Google has already shown as of the pixel 9 and 9 Pro I would totally wait on those phones instead regardless of whatever discounts you find on the pixel 8 Pro once you charge $11,000 for
a phone your product needs to be great this pixel 8 Pro checks a lot of boxes but it doesn't live in a vacuum and uh that's precisely why I'd rather wait for the pixel 9 Pro or honestly anything else at this price or even less let us know if you agree with my assessment in the comments down below and while added follow us on social media and subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one you can also follow me on my personal handles to see me want to love yet another pixel please give this video a thumbs up if you like what you saw I'm ha thanks so much for watching we'll see you on the next one
